View the Kentucky Statewide Rail Plan

January 15, 2025

1–2 minutes

Transportation planners are completing the 2024 Kentucky Statewide Rail Plan and invite the public to provide feedback on the current draft to help guide and inform decision-makers on future rail service enhancements across the Commonwealth.

The draft plan is currently viewable below and available for comment. If you have a question you would like the project team to address, please use the comment form below. Questions will be addressed during the Q&A portion of the virtual public meetings and will be posted on the website in the following weeks.

The public The Kentucky Statewide Rail Plan will identify strategies for rail investments that are needed to increase Kentucky’s economic growth, improve quality of life, and improve equity of the state’s most vulnerable and impacted communities.

After public feedback, the rail plan will be finalized by KYTC then sent to the Federal Railroad Administration for acceptance.

The 2024 Kentucky Statewide Rail Plan is a high-level guidance document that provides a snapshot of current operations and opportunities to increase Kentucky’s economic growth and improve quality of life. The plan does not propose policy or funding recommendations but will be a helpful resource for private railroad companies seeking to expand or enhance rail services through federal grant opportunities.

View the Draft Kentucky Rail Plan:

KYTC Rail Plan Draft 1.7.25 Download

2 responses to “View the Kentucky Statewide Rail Plan”

Ron Schneider

January 30, 2025 at 4:45 pm

I have a few comments to make with regard to the rail plan update:

p. 2-13 – With regard to the Kentucky Cardinal, it should be mentioned that the potential for success of this route from the early 2000s is greatly improved, since the L&I track from Louisville to Indianapolis has been upgraded by an investment of about $65 million by CSX, which has trackage rights, making for much faster potential speeds for passenger trains.

Ridership on the previous service was also greatly hindered by a very uncomfortable coach car and the absence of a sleeper car on a train that only had overnight service. (I know from experience. I took it on official Kentucky Transportation Cabinet business for a meeting with folks from Amtrak.)

Although it is not part of a current initiative, the potential for passenger service from Louisville to Lexington should get a mention. The presence of major universities in both cities, as well as the location of the state Capital between the two cities, makes it a line with great potential for high ridership. I am a retired state employee who lives in Louisville and would have taken the train to Frankfort frequently had it existed. (I was in the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet in 2002 and oversaw that year’s rail plan update, the first since 1979.) As of now, it would have to be state funded, but still is worth looking into.

p. 3-13 – “Traditional dining expansion”: On long distance trains, I don’t think there are “first class passengers.” It probably should be “sleeper car passengers.” Thank you for your consideration, Ron Schneider, Louisville

Please note: message attached

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JMKY70

February 5, 2025 at 11:42 am

I attended the video meeting and had a few comments/questions. First, I appreciate the hard work and dedication that went into this rail plan. It is the best rail plan that the State of Kentucky has produced so far! It adds some amazing tools and information which is appreciated. One question is, how would this plan help a quasi-public company like Amtrak or a private entity like Brightline bring passenger rail to more Kentucky cities? Particularly since any plan to do so would coincide with other potential interstate rail routes, like connections between Columbus-Dayton-Cincinnati-Lexington-Louisville. Next, Kentucky is behind competitor states like Ohio and Tennessee, who are in the beginning stages of passenger rail planning. How should Kentuckians advocate or what should we advocate for, if KYTC can make any recommendations?

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